When my husband and I got engaged (22 years ago!) and we picked out our everyday dishes (okay, I picked them out and he nodded), I didnt pay close attention to every detail. I chose the dishes based on the color and the pattern and figured that was all that was important. Theyre just dishes, right?

Nope.

We got 12 place settings of those dishes, Dansk Christianshavn Blue, from various wonderful friends and relatives as wedding presents. We started out our married life with more dishes than we had seats in our apartment. And then we started to use them.

At first we didnt notice the problem. Dinner consisted of microwaved Weight Watchers pizzas or whatever meat was on sale at the local IGA. Neither of us quite knew how to plan and execute a side dish that was edible at the same time as the main dish: only one large plate required. Then we discovered the miracle of salad in a bag and we began to use the salad bowls from our set.

Since we now had a few of the bowls unpacked, washed, and in the rotation (table, sink, dishwasher, repeat), we got brave and started using them for cereal as well.

Our new bowls were flat and disc-like. In fact, they reminded me of an upside-down frisbee. Instead of having a central well for gathering liquid, they were slightly raised in the middle and pushed any liquid into a ring around the outer edge.

Imagine trying to eat cereal from a bowl like that! Chasing the flakes around the edge with your spoon, unable to collect even a dram of cereal-flavored milk because it refuses to gather in one spot. Finally resorting to tipping the bowl to gather all the goodness and having it flow out over the inadequate edge and spread mockingly across the table.

I was devastated! How could I have failed so miserably? Why didnt anyone warn me?

And then my wonderful, innovative, forward-thinking, not-bound-by-convention husband saved the day. He pulled a coffee mug down from the cupboard and filled it with Golden Grahams for me. He handed me the milk and a spoon and rescued me from a cereal-free existence.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we still eat cereal from coffee mugs at our house.